the spam still manages to get through. comments are off... FOREVER. or at least until i have another burst of energy to direct towards figuring it out.
am busy. TOO busy. stressed-out-like-nothing-in-recent-memory busy. work is nuts. going on a business trip to portland on saturday. my birthday is coming up and people want to know what are you doing?. i don't know! i'm too busy to figure it out!
the neurologist's office has fucked up the results of my blood test AGAIN. i have now been waiting ONE WHOLE MONTH for the results of a test that is supposed to determine whether i get immediately referred to a stroke speciliast. the immediacy now seems laughable. the doctor has apologized, and sounds frustrated himself. he has also promised a referral to the stroke specialist anyway, so that SHE can run the mysteriously difficult test for herself. plus some other diagnostic tests, too, i understand.
but my neurologist WILL NOT CALL ME BACK. i've phoned, emailed and *faxed* him, asking about how to get this referral appointment made. i'm leaving town saturday; it would be nice to have this scheduled before i go.
argh!
i had a nightmare last night about having another TIA. in my dream, the TIA came while i was on the air at work. it was not a nice dream. fucking frightening, in fact. i stuttered into the mic, and had that horrible feeling of knowing something is wrong in my brain, but not being able to communicate that fact to anyone. in the dream i had the presence of mind to shut the mic off before collapsing to the floor.
the gym is my biggest stress-reliever right now. i cannot believe how much i love going to the gym. to say i'm surprised by my addiction is an understatement. (i've got a number of free 14-day passes, if you're a woman and you're interested in checking it out for yourself.) i've lost 4 pounds since joining at the end of january.
also, my boyfriend is a good stress-reliever. he's a sweet, sweet boy and i love him very much. we cooked a nice valentine dinner together last night --making up a recipe as we went-- and it turned out really well. plus, the chocolate bon-bons for dessert were awesome.
can i just say that i've driven by this sign for a WEEK now, and each time i see it i find myself thinking... just how passionate and just how modern? i ponder this for miles. until i see the next sign...
... at which time my head explodes.
better late than never, here are a few photos of the neighborhood halloween decorations. the people at the end of my street (right near the traffic circle) go ALL OUT with the halloween celebration. i always miss the festivities, of course... halloween is usually right in the middle of pledge drive. this year it wasn't, but i happened to have symphony rehearsal instead. bah humbug.
scary, eh? bwahahaha! good thing my poor photo-taking skills landed the camera's wrist strap right inside the frame of this terrifying image! you probably would have fainted to see the horrifying sight sans-strap!
for something more soothing, here is a picture of my favorite house in the neighborhood:
the whole thing used to be slate blue with white trim. very ho-hum. then someone new moved in and gussied it up. i ADORE this house now. the colors are spectacular.
here's a nice church sign to also help take your mind off the frightening sights above:
oh, and here are some new cute shoes i forgot to tell you about! they're from target, and are EXCEEDINGLY comfortable. i wear them everywhere. who knew that $20 shoes could be so AWESOME?
and finally, for your viewing pleasure, is a photo of my friend mary who is going quite nutty in a parking lot in raleigh. she started running around, throwing her hands in the air, and shouting "wheee!" for no apparent reason.
i personally find this photo quite hysterical, though i understand if you prefer the others. maybe you had to be there.
...'cause they make my brain hurt.
thanks to terese for that second one, from columbia, SC.
i like this sign. it almost makes me want to be a methodist.
right across their driveway is this:
good LORD, church signs have gotten boring lately. they're resorting to horrible, horrible puns.
i passed one today that said "seven days without prayer makes one weak."
gack! give me some righteousness! threats! narrow-mindedness! anything!
i've been talking with lisa about the stress of preparing for a vacation. lists, errands, planning, reservations, cat-sitters, more lists... it all leads to a bit of anxiety and a lack of sleep. stress.
somehow, though, seeing the message on this SUV didn't help:
and neither did this:
i guess i'll have to tell the hotel to add one more person to our reservation.
i need to tell you that for the last few days my exclusive soundtrack has been paul simon's new album, "surprise". i had heard good things, but sweet jezus i had no idea how soul-stirring this music would be for me. i listened to it for the first time a couple of days ago on my way to work and i actually got teary. i had to pull over. (i can't even say that about david byrne albums.)
"surprise" is produced by brian eno. i couldn't fathom what it would sound like. paul simon's high-pitched voice on top of ambient rumblings? but yes, it works. and works so well that i don't want to listen to anything else right now. you can hear some samples at paulsimon.com
so, with this constant soundtrack in mind, here is my day in pictures.
we've been taking care of the neighbor's kittens. they are totally adorable and full of energy. we let them out onto the tiny screened porch and they just want to take everything in. and, much to my amusement, anything is a toy to them, too. (2.5 MB .mov)
there's new "art" in the traffic circle, though it's merely a neighborhood reminder about this weekend's beaver queen pageant. (last year, an area of the neighborhood was inhabited by beavers who built a dam that flooded the yard of a low-lying house or two. a couple of fun-loving neighborhood lesbians took the presence of the beavers to heart and started a quirky little pageant.)
now that my workday has shifted (i'm working roughly noon-7pm) i run my errands in the morning. i had a lot of them to do. as i made my way down highway 70 i passed a church that always has good signs.
over the last few weeks i've been shopping for new glasses frames. it's been a blur. (335k .mov) i've got a zillion photos of me wearing a zillion different frames and i'm nowhere near making a decision.
ray's birthday is sunday, so i also did a little shopping for him. that's all i can say about that, though i can mention that i spied this restaurant, which --because i totally judge a book by its cover-- i feel compelled to eat at! as i took this photo i was practically salivating. while giggling.
by this point, i was only a mile or two from the wide shoe warehouse so -duh- i had to stop in. all the salespeople recognize me, which i'm both flattered by and worried about. over the years i've been shopping there, the stock has definitely become less old lady and more christa. they now have tons of colorful sandals and espadrilles. i walked out with these beauties.
since i now had photo-taking in the forefront of my brain, the missing "T" caught my eye. (the first word is "circus" --which makes the sign even funnier-- but i was stuck at a stoplight and couldn't maneuver to get a proper picture.)
and that is all. it occurred to me that i could've taken photos of a couple of radio stations and stuff, but eh... whatever. if i find the time i may post some photos of my top choices in glasses frames. my new work schedule leaves very little time for blogging, though, (or the reading of blogs). i miss it... i feel like i'm falling a little out of touch. but i'm not really complaining -- work is more fun and more challening than it has been in years and i couldn't be happier.
there seem to be more than the usual number of nutty church signs in my neighborhood this week:
what do you think? political message? or just clever punnery?
i showed it to a baptist friend of mine and she said that she was familiar with this church, and it was definitely a political message. (their last sign proclaimed --praise god!!-- that their april 9 attendance was 3,906.)
and this one just terrifies me. i mean, what the...? is there a sentence there? it hurts my head.
because of my thing for church signs, several people have pointed me towards the church sign generator. but only joe was clever enough to tell me about it AND promote divaville for me at the same time. thanks, joe.
that said, if you're going to choose one night to tune in to divaville, let it be tonight. it's my birthday, and i'm going to play whatever the hell i please.
plus, i think i'll have a few cocktails during the show. that'll be fun.
well, that was just about one of the best vacations i've ever had.
toronto is everything everyone tells you... hip, multicultural, fun, vibrant. it's got the vibe of new york city, the lakefront of chicago, and the tolerant people of... well, no american city i can think of.
i arrived wednesday afternoon and was met by my (step-) sister, jane, and her husband, dave. they drove me around the city a bit before we headed to their ultra-cute 3-story semi-detached house in the portugese neighborhood of town (just south of little italy and kensington market, for those who know a thing or two about geography). their house is like many, many others... 17 feet wide, and about 90 feet from front to back. skinny, long, and tall. they have an amazing garden in their tiny back yard, crammed full of every plant that space will allow. they also have a hot tub on the 3rd floor deck, just steps from the little guest suite they put me in. and a bathroom to die for -- they converted the smallest bedroom into a huge bathroom and decorated it so nicely you'd think you were pooping at the ritz.
anyway, wednesday night we drank and ate and laughed and caught up. it was a minor miracle that i didn't wake up with a hangover. jane and dave take mornings slowly, which is really the way i want my vacations to go, so we puttered around until about noon thursday before heading to the neighborhood park (phenomenally amazing, run by area volunteers who create things like adobe huts and pizza ovens), the neighborhood farmers' market, and the nearby mall for frozen yogurt.
that evening we had plans to meet my other (step-) sister, mindy, and her beau, charles (who live 20 minutes across town) for dinner and drinks. though it started to get overcast, we weren't too worried as the restaurant they had selected had covered a outdoor patio where we could still enjoy the lakefront view without getting piddled on. what we didn't count on was how chilly we would be, what with the rain and wind whipping off the water. we bundled up in blankets provided by the bar and foraged on, believing the alcohol would keep us warm.
friday was a huge sight-seeing day, as jane and dave (who, by the way, is still recovering from surgery on his achilles tendon - ow!) led me on a 5 or 6 mile walking tour of the area. we saw the cool bars in little italy that attract the movie stars, visited funky shops in kensington market (where we bought dried strawberries [total yum] from a little street vendor), walked through the university of toronto (where i marvelled over the neo-gothic architecture and held the CN tower in my palm), and stopped for vietnamese pho in chinatown. on the way back we had some cocktails at the dip, located at one of the top five hippest intersections in north america. (or so says some magazine published a few years ago.) when we stood to finish the last mile or so of our walk we all felt beat (we'd been trekking for probably close to 4 or 5 hours) so we hopped a streetcar home.
jane made some amazing food while i was there -- most remarkable was the tomato ginger sauce we had over shrimp and pasta that evening. no less yummy, though, were the "veggie stacks" she prepared our first night. (slices of eggplant, onion, cheese and tomato, all stacked up and baked in the oven for a half-hour or so.)
saturday was spent with mindy and charles, touring their side of town. we went for brunch at the beaches, and afterward did some window-shopping. we saw a store called "ends" (which was sort of like a funky, urban, store-front tj maxx or something) where i bought a pair of size 16 jeans that fit me like a glove. (woo!) we walked along the boardwalk where we spotted some lawn-bowling. we then moved on to the gourmet shops at the st. lawrence market, where i also bought a killer handmade necklace from a beautiful woman whose accent was as gorgeous as she was.
after the market we were off to a newly renovated area of town called "the distillery". it reminded me of brightleaf square in a way, but was far more upscale. we visited an art gallery there which was featuring an exhibition of glass works by the likes of dale chihuly. i was stunned at the fabulousness chihuly's exotic chandeliers. such amazing color and form. one of the many highlights of my trip.
we went back to min and charles' well-appointed house for steak on the grill (and lots of wine-in-tetra-paks), and had such a good time laughing and relaxing with everyone that i got teary thinking that i only had a half-day left with everyone. mindy and i did get blubbery as we left that evening, vowing to get together again soon. as jane and dave drove me back to their side of town i saw a church sign that summed it all up for me.
my step-sisters are one of the many blessings of my life. i feels so fortunate that they welcomed me as a full-fledged sibling from the start, more than 25 years ago. i can't wait to see them all again.
this one doesn't outrage me the way some of the others have, but it still makes me scratch my head a little.
i mean, really... as far as i'm concerned they should have switched those adjectives.
for those of you who weren't able to attend, i really am sorry that i didn't take more photos at the party. here are some people laughing, though, and here are some of those same people falling asleep. but that's all i got.
i guess i was too engaged in moral wrong-dom to think to take any other pictures that night. (getting loaded on apple martinis is a basic civil right, yes??)
this f*cking church pisses me off every week with its ridiculous sign.
like a lot of people, i have been feeling very anxious lately... trouble sleeping, and difficulty concentrating on anything other than politics.
surprisingly, this church sign helped my stress level and gave me a good laugh.
i voted quickly at my precint this morning at 10:30. though all of the voting booths inside were full when i arrived, there was no line out the door.
every day on my commute i pass a church that has the money-grubbingest signs. sometimes when i read them my jaw drops in disbelief.
last week's sign said something like:
u can't take your money to heaven
so send it ahead before u go
then the back side of the sign said:
we'll ship it for you
bleah.
the sign is different this morning. today it says:
when the heart is converted
the purse will be inverted
